The real reason for iOS 7's strange looks

Explanation?
This version of iOS was designed especially for the taste of the Asian market. Nothing wrong with this. But it is a little hard for a European, to live with such colors and combinations of colors!
Could become a dealbreaker.

Nothing "Asian" about it. TouchWiz was designed for Asians. It's so ugly and full of pictures (like in filters) and gimmicks.
iOS and stock Android come from American companies and you can easily tell they're way more aesthetic.
By the way, I'm not American or something... I'm from Israel.

Explanation?
This version of iOS was designed especially for the taste of the Asian market. Nothing wrong with this. But it is a little hard for a European, to live with such colors and combinations of colors!
Could become a dealbreaker.

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There is nothing strange about iOS 7 looks...
The only strange thing is your post and reasoning behind it.

Explanation?
This version of iOS was designed especially for the taste of the Asian market. Nothing wrong with this. But it is a little hard for a European, to live with such colors and combinations of colors!
Could become a dealbreaker.

Click to expand...

Congrats on the most bizarre explanation for iOS7 design features. When will you be getting an Android? Soon, I hope.

Explanation?
This version of iOS was designed especially for the taste of the Asian market. Nothing wrong with this. But it is a little hard for a European, to live with such colors and combinations of colors!
Could become a dealbreaker.

Click to expand...

Feels that way to me too (American). I actually strongly dislike the "Asian" color schemes - the "Hello Kitty" look, if you will. The bright green, and saturated blue and red text on bright backgrunds will drive me a bit nuts. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), there are a lot of new features and system tech (new APIs and Framework improvements) that'll probably persuade me to upgrade.

And, there's still hope Apple will dial it back a notch or two before its release. I've always jumped on previous iOS upgrades, but this is the first one that's given me pause.

OTOH, I like pretty much like everything I've seen in Mavericks - the UI and especially the new technologies (and improvements to existing ones).

Explanation?
This version of iOS was designed especially for the taste of the Asian market. Nothing wrong with this. But it is a little hard for a European, to live with such colors and combinations of colors!
Could become a dealbreaker.

My out-there explanation is that Ives is for whatever reason ticked off at Cook (maybe he wanted his job?) and this is a real-life "The Emperor's New Clothes," in that Cook seems to be afraid to say anything stupid and therefore doesn't say anything at all. He might not trust his own taste and have assumed anything from Ives is genius.

Having said that, I don't hate the design. I can't really in that I haven't used it yet. On the other hand, it's not too easy on the eyes in photographs and even Apple's promo video.

Congrats on the most bizarre explanation for iOS7 design features. When will you be getting an Android? Soon, I hope.

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I don not think, you are in the position to decide, who has to switch to which mobile OS?
By the way: I was thinking about Microsoft's solution. Keeping iOS6 on the iPad for my e-books and for continuing usage of a few important apps/ using Microsoft's mobil OS on the next phone.

Oh, that's ridiculous. Do you think all of cultural studies are bigotry? Of course there are cultural differences around the world. Americans try to get tan. Asians try to lighten their skin.

Someone else has echoed the OP:

iOS 7 has global appeal
Early accounts of iOS 7 fixated on the bright colors, made more conspicuous by Apples use of semi-transparent screens. When you swipe up from the bottom to reveal a new control panel for commonly used controls, for example, the colors of the icons behind the screen appear in a blurry pastel haze. The purple-pink of the iTunes Store icon, the blue-cyan of the App Store icon and other overly bright icons become a blury screen filled with Easter-egg colors.
Heres the thing: The appeal of one type of color treatment over another is culturally determined. Apples super bright iOS 7 colors tend to shock Europeans and Americans, who favor increasingly dark, bleak, post-apocolyptic color schemes. (Just look at Supermans new suit!) But super-bright colors like the ones in iOS 7 are perennial favorites through Asia, including China and India, and also throughout much of Latin America.
In short, Apples color scheme may astonish and disappoint jaded Northern and Western urban geeks. But these colors will be an international crowd-pleaser.
​

I don not think, you are in the position to decide, who has to switch to which mobile OS?
By the way: I was thinking about Microsoft's solution. Keeping iOS6 on the iPad for my e-books and for continuing usage of a few important apps/ using Microsoft's mobil OS on the next phone.

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You were the one who said, "Could become a dealbreaker". You won't have a choice about iOS7, so there's only one logical conclusion, you will go to another phone operating system.

Interesting how the argument has shifted from iOS7 was designed to get rid of skeumorphism and go to a more flat design to now it's cultural. Yeah, right.

Explanation?
This version of iOS was designed especially for the taste of the Asian market. Nothing wrong with this. But it is a little hard for a European, to live with such colors and combinations of colors!
Could become a dealbreaker.

Not that I agree with it but I know what the op is talking about. And if you don't think Asians Americans and Europeans all have different tastes you need to get out more.

Btw op Johny Ive is European

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Of course people from different cultures have different tastes. I'm in China right now, and I grew up in China as well. And I can pretty much say from what I've seen of China that ios 7 isn't the "ideal" or "perfect" os here. Asians generally love customization, and the Chinese friends that I grew up with generally love to customize their devices, and what they customize their devices to is up to their personal taste, whether cutesy or not. iOS isn't an os that is known for its customization, but rather for its simplicity and cohesiveness. So in concept, iOS isn't even aimed for Asians.

Of course people from different cultures have different tastes. I'm in China right now, and I grew up in China as well. And I can pretty much say from what I've seen of China that ios 7 isn't the "ideal" or "perfect" os here. Asians generally love customization, and the Chinese friends that I grew up with generally love to customize their devices, and what they customize their devices to is up to their personal taste, whether cutesy or not. iOS isn't an os that is known for its customization, but rather for its simplicity and cohesiveness. So in concept, iOS isn't even aimed for Asians.

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op wasn't really referring to the UI or any of the customization aspects of the os or lack of for that matter. op was going on looks and ascetics and colors.

op wasn't really referring to the UI or any of the customization aspects of the os or lack of for that matter. op was going on looks and ascetics and colors.

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And so was I. The OS's looks, aesthetics and colors are all a part of its UI. The customization aspect of the OS directly relates to its aesthetics as well - it determines if the aesthetics part of the OS can be personalized or is it streamlined. OP was suggesting that the main colors of the OS apparently caters to Asians, and I was retorting that a color palette won't do much in luring people over, because the fundamental concept behind iOS (simplicity and intuition) differs from what appeals to Asians generally. And this a very generous description, although less stereotyping than OP's suggestion - that Asians love bright colors.

And the Asians' love for customization comes from cultural differences. There are a lot more choices when shopping for anything in China, for example. It's true that compared to Asians, Westerners prefer simplicity, functionality and just generally utilitarian things, and that's why color appeal may seem like a cultural thing.

Edit: And OP clearly stated that this whole OS is designed for Asians, not just the color palette.

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